Father and Son
by Thx4Nothing
Summary: It's been ten regret-filled years since his kingdom fell. King Harold wished for death, to see his family once more. If only he knew that not all hope was lost./ Having finally killed Herobrine, Ajax ponders about his uncertain future. Little did he know that his past would return to haunt him. (Based off CaptainSparklez's Fallen Kingdom and Take Back The Night.)
1. Fall

It took what seemed like forever for him to fall.

Harold swore that he felt time slowing down around him. It threw his surroundings into sharp relief: the mobs staring down at him from the tower balcony, the calm blue surface of the river, the broken bridge and the razing village in the distance. He could hear the screams of his people as they died horrible deaths and the cries of the triumphant mobs. All of these filled him with self-loathing; if only he had the foresight to know what was coming. But he didn't. And others suffered because of it.

A semi-familiar song went through his mind. He couldn't remember where he had heard it before but it felt calming, allowing him to reflect on his predicament. This was a rare opportunity for him. Usually, he was so busy that he never had any spare time to himself. Too bad it only occurred at the worst possible time.

_I used to rule the world__  
__Chunks would load when I gave the word__  
__Now every night I go stow away__  
__Hide from the mobs I used to slay_

_Ah, the mobs. Ever since he had spawned into the hardcore world, they had brought him nothing but misery and pain. They were abominable creatures, out for blood. He had learned to associated darkness with death, for night was their realm. The only time when they were the most powerful, with more types of mobs spawning in greater numbers than before. He ruled the day, while they ruled the night. Fitting that they chose to strike at midnight, its darkest hour._

_They once were terrified__  
__Every time I looked into their eyes__  
__Villagers would cheer my way__  
__For a hero I was, that's what they'd say_

_Some hero he was. He had tried to do his part: roaming through the village to check up on his citizens, strengthening his army at every chance he got, monitoring the movements of the mobs. His people praised him for the measures that he had taken to protect them from harm. But by judging by how fast the kingdom fell into chaos, clearly he hadn't done enough. _

_One minute we had it all__  
__Next our world began to fall__  
__Away from all that it had once become__  
__They all cried for my help, but I stood there numb._

Harold started to sob. _I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry._

Suddenly, time returned to normal. Gravity took control of him once more. Everything around him turned into a blur as wind whistled past his ears. Finally, he plunged into the river, the soft water breaking his fall. Exactly what he had planned when he jumped from the tower balcony.

The impact had sent him deeper into the river than expected. Instinctively, Harold started to swim upwards as fast as he could, desperate to reach the surface before he ran out of breath. However, it proved to be too far above him. Fifteen blocks. He simply couldn't swim that fast. He panicked, for he was already out of breath. Even as he put all of his energy into propelling himself through the water, he was slowly drowning. He needed air desperately. The surface wasn't too far away now. He could make it. But even as he swam, he felt himself growing weak, already suffocating.

_So this is how I die. _

His last memory of his family flashed through his mind. He had been pulling his wife, Elenore, who in turn was carrying his son, Ajax, to safety. However, an ill-timed creeper explosion had broken the bridge into half, separating them from him. They were terrified and defenceless then, unsure of what to do. They stood no chance against the mobs...

_Elenore! Ajax!_

What happened to them? He _must _know! He had to!

Using the last of his energy, he kicked furiously, propelling himself upwards._ I can make it, I can make it, I can make it..._

Harold's head broke through the surface of the water, sending little ripples everywhere. He gasped, taking in huge gulps of air. _Ah, sweet air_. He hadn't realised how important it was. He was never going to repeat the experience of drowning again.

The shore was not too far away. He managed to reach it with the little remaining energy he had. Chest heaving, Harold dragged himself onto land and turned over to lie on his back. _Just for a while. A short break, that's all, _he said to himself. As he lay there, Harold reflected on just how lucky he was to still be alive. In a moment, he would get up to... zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

* * *

**Author's note: If you have seen this story before, you're absolutely right.  
**

**This story originated from (and is still on) Quotev, complete with the same title and description. Which means basically everything is copy-pasted from there.  
**

**BUT DON'T RAGE YET! I am the actual author who wrote the story. The one and the same. The main reason why I am posting it on is because I'm hoping that it'll reach a wider audience here, compared to the small number of people who read the Quotev version. I'll prefer my readers to be more interactive, thank you very much.**

**So yeah... enjoy the cliffhanger!**

**(P.S I will usually update the Quotev version first, rather than this one. So you might have to wait a while for updates.)**


	2. Triumph

He couldn't believe it.

The whole incident had seemed so surreal. Travelling through dangerous biomes, which included a swamp full of zombies and a lava wasteland occupied by strange stone giants. Riding his horse, Chestnut, towards an ominous stone castle. The dark, long hallway that was adorned with the statues of nearly every mob unimaginable. That surprise attack that came seemingly out of nowhere. The appearance of the mad god himself. The cavernous mansion moving around, obeying his opponent's very whim. The lake of lava that threatened to burn him alive should he make a misstep. Dodging the fireball attacks from _him_. Smacking one of them right into his opponent's face with the diamond sword. Stabbing him through the heart with his sword and watching the white glow fade from his eyes.

Surely none of that had happened. It was all a dream, right? He was still in his bed at the sandstone village. He would wake up to find that virtually nothing had changed.

Any second now.

Waking up was taking a bit too long.

Impatient, Ajax whacked himself in the face with the flat of his sword, making him reel from the pain. _Ow, that hurt._

Wait, if that hurt, then...

He blinked, looking around at his hellish surroundings. The stone castle was slowly falling apart, the life force that linked it to its master destroyed. He was standing on one of little islands of debris in the lake of lava. He could see a body lying a few blocks away on a piece of stone foundation. It could have been easily mistaken for Steve?, if not for the fact that it wore a hood around its head. And had no pupils.

Ajax gritted his teeth. There was no doubt about it.

He had finally defeated Herobrine.

But now what?

He had finally gotten his revenge. It was what he had been training for ten years, after all. Blood, sweat and tears had been shed for this moment. The damn bastard had taken too many things away from him. His family, his kingdom, his home and Master Takahiro. He should be feeling triumphant at finally killing his arch-enemy.

But why did he feel so empty?

Before he could ponder further, he heard a horse whinny urgently. _Was that Chestnut? _It sounded like her, anyway. Oh wait, the whole place was falling apart. How could he have forgotten? He had to leave now, before the castle crumbled and disappeared forever into the lake of lava. Wouldn't want to be burnt to a crisp or crushed to death now, did he?

Ajax made his way back to the unbroken front portion of the castle, using the islands of debris as stepping stones. He pushed open the gigantic wooden doors, trying hard not to look at the villager skeletons that adorned it. He didn't want to bring back the recent bad memories. Not after he had defeated Herobrine. He strode over to the bay horse waiting faithfully for him at the entrance. It was surprising that she had waited here for him. He had figured that she would flee at the sight of the moving castle, but no. She was as loyal as a dog.

"Good horse," Ajax mumbled as he mounted her.

Chestnut nickered happily.

Ajax grabbed the reins. "Come on, girl. Let's go home."


	3. Climb

"Baaaa!"

"Look honey, I don't wanna run the kingdom right now..." Harold mumbled.

_Thump thump. Thump thump._ The sound of hooves walking on grass could be heard.

"BAAAAAAAAA!"

Harold snapped his eyes open. A light grey sheep was in his face, sniffing at him as if he was a new type of grass. It nibbled at his hair, and then licked him.

"Hey! Get out of here, sheep!" Harold yelled, making a swiping movement with one hand. The sheep hastened away, terrified. _Well, that was a rude awakening._

"Ugh. What happened?" Harold turned over and used his elbows to prop himself up, shifting into a sitting position. His clothes was slightly damp. as if they had been recently soaked. The sensation of wearing slightly wet clothes made his skin prickle, vaguely reminding him of something from the night before. _Water... Falling.. Mob cries... The kingdom... Elenore and Ajax.._

"Notch's beard, my family!" Harold yelled, realization flooding his mind. Determined, he got up immediately and started scaling one of the steep cliffs that lined the river, desperate to get back to the bridge.

After fifteen minutes of climbing, Harold was ready to give up. His body ached all over, and he hadn't even climbed one quarter of the cliff. His fingers were ready to give out, slowly losing his grip to the stone block he hung onto. He was getting old, after all. He wasn't as strong as he used to be, especially after years of living the pampered life of a king. But he had to reach the top of the cliff, to get to the rendezvous and to check if his family had successfully escaped the mobs.** He had to**. Even though he had failed in his responsibilities as king, he was still a husband and a father. He couldn't simply relinquish those duties.

_I have to find them! _he thought, as he renewed his grip on the block. He found a foothold and pushed himself upwards. _I have to find them! I have to find them! I have to find them!_ He repeated to himself as he did the process again. This way, he managed to force himself to keep on scaling the cliff. It was the only thing that kept him going.

The sun was at its highest point in the sky by the time Harold had reached the top. He flopped onto the grass, utterly exhausted. His heart was beating so hard that it was threatening to break out of his rib cage. His muscles were screaming in pain. But he couldn't rest now. The last time he stopped for a break, he had fallen asleep. Doing so right now would simply be wasting daylight, leaving him with less time to look for them before night fell.

Despite his weariness, Harold got to his feet, swaying slightly as he did so. He leaned on a nearby birch tree for support, steadying himself. Suddenly, he heard sounds and footfalls. They didn't seem like those of the passive mobs. Paranoid, Harold quickly climbed the tree, momentarily forgetting about his pains. What if the aggressive mobs were still in the area? He hid himself in the leaves, hoping that nothing could see him.

A group of villagers walked past, grunting among themselves in their strange, unintelligible language.

"Where's Takahiro and the others?"

"I heard that they found a survivor. A human child. They're staying back to check if he's alright."

"What will they do with him?"

"Heard that they're bringing him back to the village."

"Oh great, another mouth to feed."

"Don't be like that. We have plenty of food."

As soon as they had walked out of his line of sight, Harold dropped down from the tree. He shook his head, staring at the direction that they had went._ Villagers. Who cares what they have to say? They're all stupid, greedy grunts_. Harold wasn't fond of villagers. They creeped him out, with their huge noses and not quite human appearance. Once, he had been persuaded by his ministers to trade with them, thinking that would improve the kingdom's economy. That proved to be a disaster.

Still, Harold was glad that he had taken the precaution of hiding. They may had been hostile. Harold had never heard of such a thing but he didn't want to take the risks. When it came to mobs, he didn't really know which to trust anymore. Especially after his kingdom got attacked.

Now that he was completely alone once more, Harold had trouble deciding where to go. He had told Elenore to go to the rendezvous, a tiny shack at the outskirts of the kingdom. However, in the midst of all the chaos, they could have gone anywhere. They could be wandering in the forest, lost and wounded. Or in the ruined town, hiding among the wreckage. Or even in a small cave, attempting to find shelter. _Or maybe they're already dead..._

**_No. _**Harold pushed away the pessimistic thought. _Anything but that. _Elenore was a smart, reliable woman. She had good judgement, even more than him. Nether, she used to be his personal adviser before Ajax was born. She wouldn't willingly drag her son and herself into danger.

_Come on, think. If I was Elenore, where would I go? _

Harold didn't need to think long and hard for the answer. It was obvious. If your husband had told you there was a safehouse filled with supplies while your home was under attack, _of course _you would go there.

Harold shook his head, reminding himself of the urgent situation at hand. _No more time for standing around. I've gotta move quickly._

Without hesitation, Harold faced towards the direction of the safehouse and took off in a sprint, eager to see his family again.


	4. Rest

"WHOA, girl. We're stopping here for tonight."

Ajax gently pulled on Chestnut's mouth with the reins as she slowed to a halt. The horse snorted sleepily as he dismounted her, tired after hours of travelling through many lands. The duo were currently in a mega taiga biome, with spruce trees towering over them and brown mushrooms popping up all over the place. Ajax tied her to a nearby moss stone boulder with a lead that he always brought with him. The horse fell asleep almost immediately, without even eating.

Ajax lay on the grass, his diamond sword next to him. He would need that in case any hostile mobs decided to attack in the night. Especially wolves, since packs of them were known to spawn in this kind of biome. Despite the precaution, Ajax was certain that nobody would attack them. _Herobrine has full control over all the mobs, right? Well, now that he's **dead**, what'll happen to them? Would this mean that they'll stop spawning completely? Or will they become out of control?_

Ajax shuddered at the idea. Both options were too scary to even consider. As much as most people hated to admit it, they rely heavily on the mobs. Gunpowder is needed to make TNT, brewing certain potions require spider eyes and bonemeal is made from skeletons' bones. Not to mention the meat from passive mobs. If they stopped spawning completely, these resources would be lost. Forever. As for mobs getting out of control, well... It would be a repeat of what happened when he was younger. Except that it would be widespread. not just just limited to a kingdom. _Just imagine. Something like that happening all of over Minecraftia._ It would definitely mean certain death.

Ajax sighed and pushed the line of thought to the back of his mind. His life was already pretty screwed up. He didn't _need_ to think about that. _If it happens, it happens. That's the way life works._

Sleep still hadn't taken him yet. Ajax sat up, glancing over at the sleeping horse. As he did so, he winced from the saddle sores he had received over the past day. _Ouch. _Just then, a strong breeze blew, creating a flute-like sound as it whistled through leaves and grasses. It reminded him so much of music that he started to sing.

**_Closet full of secrets and skeletons awakes but nothing's true  
I used to own a castle now it's boxes that I have to move  
Right here in the darkness there's nothing left for me to do  
It's easier to run away but today  
Today we got to_**

_That's it. That's my entire life in one verse. Man, I'm so good at making up lyrics on the spot. I've gotta write a song._

Ajax frowned suddenly, his brow furrowing. Why was he in this biome again? Why wasn't he going home, to the village? Before he left, the villagers informed him that they would be rebuilding the former village, to make it livable again. They wouldn't have gone anywhere. They would welcome him with open arms, congratulating him for his accomplishment. They too had suffered when Herobrine still had full control of the mobs. Since they were not classified as "mobs" and therefore were able to think and act freely, the demon punished them with constant attacks on villages. He would know. He had participated in many, defending the villagers that he had grown up and made friends with. Most of the time, they were successful in fighting of the mobs, with few casualties. The only exception was the last one, the zombie pigmen attack that destroyed their former home and killed many. Master Takahiro, his beloved teacher and the first to accept him, had been one of them.

So what if he returns to the village? What happens next?

Ajax itched for action and ambition. After all, most of his life was spent training to defeat Herobrine. He had learned how to kill mobs, how to traverse the various dangerous lands that surrounded his castle and how to kill the demon himself. Ever since he and Master Takahiro found the stone mural that predicted him as the only one to defeat the demon, Ajax had thought about nothing else, swearing revenge. The pigmen attack and his master's death only proved to spur him on, to finally take action and to kill that son of a glitch.

_So if I go back home, I'll spend the rest of my life rebuilding the village. Continu__e my role as hunter and defender of the village, slaying mobs for food and protection. Maybe even find a villager girl and settle down with her. It'll be a quiet life, a chance for me to take it easy after this adventure._

_That's freaking boring._

Ajax felt a certain, familiar emptiness within him. It threatened to swallow him whole as he thought further about the future. He really didn't have a goal now. Nothing to plan for, nothing to train for. Just going about that routine everyday for the rest of his life. Life would become pointless for him.

Ajax glanced over at the diamond sword at his side. Feeling weak and unprotected, he grabbed it. Holding the sword in his hand felt somewhat comforting, reassuring him with the promise of more combat. But the emptiness within him wasn't properly filled up. The questions about his future weren't resolved. The comfort that the sword gave him was temporary, fleeting even.

Sighing, he lay back down again, looking up at the sky. The night was completely dark, with the new moon and the stars being hidden from sight by clouds. Ajax's eyelids were beginning to grow heavy, finally exhausted. As he squinted up at the blackness of the night, Ajax mumbled something to himself before he fell asleep.

"I'm not going back to the village."


End file.
